Madonna Lays off the Swastika, Doubles Down on Pussy Riot

Madonna avoided an additonal law suit in France by removing a swastika from extreme-right leader Marine Le Pen's face in a concert video, but demonstrates she hasn't foresaken the art of political provocation in her work.

It’s a rare occasion indeed when Madonna passes up an opportunity to provoke controversy. But on Tuesday, the pop diva opted for discretion, avoiding renewed sparring with French extreme-right leader Marine Le Pen.

During the final European show of her world-wide “MDNA Tour” in Nice Aug. 21, Madonna ditched the swastika that had been previously superimposed over a photo of Le Pen in a video accompanying the song “Nobody Knows Me” (part of a visual critique of controversial leaders like Sarah Palin, Hu Jintao and Pope Benedict). Instead, the altered footage decorated Le Pen’s face with with a less contentious–and litigation-prone–question mark.

Indeed, legal concerns, rather than politics, apparently motivated Madonna’s move. When the swastika image first appeared during her May 31 performance in Tel Aviv, an angry Le Pen publicly warned “if she tries that in France, we’ll see what happens.” And we did: the day after Madonna’s July 14 Paris concert, which included the contested sequence, Le Pen’s National Front party filed suit for public insult and defamation. Then–after lashing out at “aging singers who need publicity go[ing] to such extremes”–the 44 year-old Le Pen warned the 54 year-old Madonna she’d file additional lawsuits if her final concert in Nice included the swastika as well.

Le Pen supporters in Nice began protesting the concert as early as last week, pasting National Front stickers over Madonna handbills advertising the concert and decrying the outrageous denigration of linking Le Pen to Nazism. As a result, once Madonna made her final bow and the show finished sans swastika, National Front leaders were quick to claim victory.

Madonna may have pulled out of this fight in order to focus on her other legal woes. In addition to Le Pen’s pending case in France, the pop star now also finds herself being sued for $10.5 million in Russia by activists claiming her Aug. 9 concert in St. Petersburg illicitly promoted gay rights. She has elsewhere infuriated some Russian conservatives by denouncing the detention and subsequent conviction of anti-Putin punk band Pussy Riot.

Indeed, in her feud with Russian authorities Madonna seems to be doubling down: in Nice Tuesday, she shouted “Free Pussy Riot!” and railed against “intolerance” and those who don’t respect “human dignity.” “The real deal is freedom and not just for Pussy Riot,” she said, according to AFP, adding later, “Every human being deserves to be treated equally.”